1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical storage drive, and more particularly, to an optical storage drive with functions of detecting turn over.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As the population becomes better acquainted with computer devices, the number of applications of computer devices expands. Besides normal business use, personal computers can provide families with functions such as multimedia entertainment. Because multimedia entertainment often involves enormous audio streams and video streams for generating the needed optical and sound effects, the development of the data-storage technology of computer devices is promoted. Many different types of data-storage devices have appeared one by one for storing the digital data more easily. Among theses data-storage devices, optical disks have been a preferred tool in recent years because its low cost, small volume, and big capacity. Besides being able to store the data of normal documents or programs, optical discs are also widely used for storing multimedia data such as audio streams and video streams. To access the data stored in optical discs, an optical device has to be used.
The optical storage drive is an essential peripheral device of computer systems now. The optical storage drive is usually set up in the computer through in one of four ways. The first way, which is the most traditional way, is to have the front placed for horizontal use, the second way is to place the optical storage drive on its left-side for vertical use, the third way is to place the optical storage drive on its left-side for vertical use, and the fourth way is to have the front placed for vertical use. Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a diagram of the front placed for horizontal use of a prior art optical storage drive 10. The optical storage drive 10 comprises a housing 12, a power button 13, an insertion slot 14, a label 15, and a cover 16. The housing 12 is used for covering the whole optical storage drive 10 to protect the optical storage drive 10 from damage; the power button 13 is the power-on device of the optical storage drive 10; the insertion slot 14 is where the optical disc is inserted (as long as the optical disc is inserted in the insertion slot 14, the optical disc is pulled inside and placed into a specific position); and the label 15 here is for indicating the top of the optical storage drive 10. In addition, other buttons used for controlling the optical storage drive 10 can be set up on the cover 16, and these buttons ordinarily are protected by the cover 16 to avoid being pressed accidentally. Additionally, the cover 16 should be open when using these buttons.
As shown in FIG. 1, the insertion slot 14 is set at the upper position of the optical storage drive 10, but the power button 13 and the cover 16 are set at the lower position of the optical storage drive 10. At this time, that the label 15 points above meaning that the top of the optical storage drive 10 points above. An optical disc has two sides. The bottom side is the side that data is read from; the top side is the side that is not read. For the optical storage drive 10 in FIG. 1, when inserting an optical disc in the insertion slot 14, the bottom side of the optical disc points to down so that the data of the optical disc can be read smoothly.
Please refer to FIG. 2, which is a diagram of the optical storage drive 10 in FIG. 1 placed on its left-side for vertical use. At this time, the label 15 faces the left, meaning that the optical storage drive 10 is placed on its left-side. Please refer to FIG. 3, which is a diagram of the optical storage drive 10 in FIG. 1 placed on its right-side for vertical use. At this time, the label 15 faces the right, meaning that the optical storage drive 10 is placed on its right-side. Please refer to the FIG. 4, which is a diagram of the optical storage drive 10 in FIG. 1 with the front placed for vertical use. At this time, the side that has the control buttons of the optical storage drive 10 (i.e. the side that has the insertion slot 14) points to above, the optical storage drive 10 is placed with its front facing above. The placement of an optical storage drive is often determined according to the position of the motherboard or the needs of external space, but the most important thing is that the optical storage drive can operate normally. Appropriate placement of the optical storage drive can efficiently save the space and make operation easier.
Because of the pickup head inside the optical storage drive and other mechanic structures, the optical storage drive can operate normally if the optical storage drive is placed in one of the four ways mentioned above. But if the optical storage drive is turned over, errors may happen when reading the data of the optical disc. Being “turned over” means that the optical storage drive 10 is placed on its top (i.e. the label 15 points to the bottom instead of above). At this time, when the whole optical storage drive 10 is turned over, the operation of the machine is seriously influenced because of gravity so that users cannot utilize the optical storage drive 10 to read the data of the optical disc smoothly.